University Entrepreneurship and Technology Transfer in Japanby（）

R. Cesar Sato JICA/ The University of Tokyo

In 1998, the Japanese government directed its efforts for the promotion ofstrategies

that tries to establish the management of intellectual property inuniversities. The main goal of the policy was to transfer the inventions produced insidethe university context through commercialization. With the promulgation of theTechnology Transfer Law through a joint initiative between MEXT (Ministry ofEducation, Science and Technology) and METI (Ministry of Economy, Trade andIndustry), efforts were made to create a symbiosis between universities and industries
for the promotion of an innovation strategy. This resulted also in the establishment ofTLOs (Technology Licensing Offices), adapting the US model used in the 1980’s and1990’s. The two government branches complemented one another in the policy
establishment, because while all of the Japanese universities were under MEXT
jurisdiction, the METI promoted financial support of approximately￥ 30 million

annually to the TLOs establishment. In July of 2004, thirty seven TLOs wereestablished in Japan, and after the end of METI financial support, they have become
financially independent. Recently, there are two types of TLOs, internal and external tothe university. The TLOs established outside of the universities generally deal withmany educational institutions. In 1999, the Japanese version of the United States
Bayh-Dole Act was institutionalized, and the intellectual property was transferred fromthe inventors to the universities. The MEXT solicited also the establishment ofintellectual property office in all of the universities through the period of February toApril 2003, forty three centers for intellectual property were established, through aninvestment of￥2.4 billions. The main activity in these offices is to manage intellectual

property of the universities, especially on property transfer from inventors to theuniversities, and also to serve as consultants for related questions of negotiating
intellectual capital.
Since the 1980’s, a large number of studies about the Bayh-Dole Act andIntellectual Property were produced and the creation and the use of intellectual capitalhas been established as an important asset in the entrepreneurs discussions. These
factors lead to strengthen economic paradigm about creation of wealth from theintellectual capital. However, it was also verified that the necessities were not always
comprehended and wisely replicated. During the months of October to December 2006,
we conducted a series of semi-structured interviews with the directors of TLO’s and IP
Offices in Japanese universities. The selected sample was composed of ten universities
that had the highest number of patent applications during the period of 2000 to 2004 inJapan. The participation in this research was completely voluntary and in a total of 15
invitations between TLO’s and IPO was sent; we had an adhesion of 70% in this study,
in a total of ten interviews. Additionally, a questionnaire application was also done withclosed questions and an attitude measurement using Likert scale. Our intention was toenlighten a critical vision about these recent events and the effects of the current policy
and its possible implications. Among our preliminary conclusions we attested that theestablishment of TLOs in Japan was a step on trying to increase innovation capacity incompanies although there was no verified increase in applied research or the decrease ofbasic research. The patentability and immediate commercialization was mentioned asimportant factors, expressing a strong market orientation. However, regionaldevelopments through start-up companies and the perspectives of research grants areunnoticed. It is certain that patenting is a legal mean of intellectual protection,
nonetheless, universities should be capable of managing their own knowledge freely,
without pressure directed to its commercial use only, hence the benefits of medium tolong term use also should occupy the agenda of technological managers, extrapolating asimple sample of results. This search for commercial results may lead to an effectknown as the anti-common tragedy, where the assets that should circulate freely willdiminish with increase of privatization of research. This still may not happen yet, but
aren’t we giving steps into this direction?
Technological transfer between universities– industry should count on thesupport of social academics capable of understanding the implications and evaluating
the risks, as well as collaborating with an enlargement of discussions about propertiesof scientific knowledge created by universities.